Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

he would be encouraged to greater enormities; if punished, and in a way fhort of death," either the difgrace which he had undergone would difqualify him from filling the throne afterwards with dignity and effect; or the public compaffion, excited by his humiliation and encouraged by his adherents, would turn the tide of popularity beyond measure in his favour, and enable him not only to wreak his vengeance on the authors of his punishment, but perhaps even to affume arbitrary power. For these reasons, among others, it seems the part of wisdom to fuffer no penalty to impend over the Monarch himself, except the forfeiture of the crown in extreme cafes; and to guard against his poffible misconduct or treachery, by making the public concurrence of his minifters indispensable to the validity of his proceedings, and rendering them ftrictly refponfible for the counsel which they give, and the commands which they execute. This method is adopted in the British Conftitution.

8. The expenditure of public money should be brought to open account.

The

The policy of this rule, and the observance of it in Great Britain, are equally apparent.

9. The proceedings of courts of juftice should be public; and juftice should be administered with as little delay and expence as may be.

In the administration of justice the first requifite is that it be impartial. That the courts of justice in Great Britain are equally open to the poor (p) and to the rich, to the subject

and

(p) There is one defcription of British subjects who are by no means equally protected with their fellow-citizens in the enjoyment of liberty: those namely, who are liable to be feized by a prefs-gang, and compelled to ferve on board a man of war, even at the very moment when they are returning to their families after several years of abfence, sickness, and toil, in distant quarters of the globe. If any argument can in fome inftances refcue the practice of impreffing feamen from the charge of direct injustice, it must be this; that they who follow a feafaring life are previously aware of that attendant hardship, and may therefore be regarded as having consented to the risk of undergoing it. A fimilar argument may in fome measure perhaps be extended to the case of landmen occasionally impreffed. At any rate, however, this plea for the juftice of impreffing mariners is extremely defective. The occupa

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

and to the monarch; and that in general the decifions are formed and the laws administered with as great a degree of uprightness and wisdom as it is poffible to expect in a human tribunal, are truths univerfally acknowledged. The appointment of judges of the fupreme

tion of a feaman is often the allotment of friends and relations during his childhood. And when choice takes place, it is frequently at a thoughtless age, and when the hazard of fervitude is not likely to be feriously weighed. It is not only the liberty of the failor which fuffers by the im press service; his property is equally exposed to injury. Time for beneficial labour is to him property. And, when on board a man of war, he incurs fuch a lofs by the fmallness of his wages compared with those which he might have gained in a merchant's fervice, as is by no means compenfated by the chance of prize-money, or by any other advantages of his new fituation. The practice in question, befides being chargeable with injustice, is like wife fo repugnant to the fpirit of freedom and of huma nity, and fo little congenial to the general principles of the British laws, that the nation must be inexcufable should it continue it on the mere ground of faving expence. By ferious deliberations on the fubject renewed from time to time, and by a careful review of the measures adopted in foreign countries to answer the fame purpose, it would furely be poffible to devife fome plan for manning the navy, which would not be liable to fuch weighty objections, and would afford a fatisfactory profpect of fecuring the public fafety.

.courts

courts rewarded with ample falaries, and removable from their office only on the concur rent application of both Houses of Parliament ; the admirable inftitution of juries; and the permiffion of new trials in a variety of cafes, are among the precautions by which the Conftitution has wifely endeavoured to fecure this momentous object. Yet all its precautions might have been found ineffectual, had it not been for that publicity in judicial proceedings which is established in this country; a publicity which renders the conduct of each judge during the whole course of a trial, as well as his final decifion, known not only to the parties concerned and their agents, but to all perfons whatever who have the curiosity to be prefent; and to the members of the legal profeffion who crowd round the tribunal, anxious to mark his behaviour and determination, and too difcerning not to discover any material impropriety in either. This publicity is in effect rendered univerfal by means of the prefs, which in all cafes of importance conveys a detailed account of judicial transactions to every quarter of the kingdom.

When

When the impartial administration of juftice is enfured, the next requifite is the avoiding of unneceffary delay and expence. For the reafons which have been stated in the last paragraph, the publicity of our courts tends likewise to deter the judge from interpofing needless, vexatious, and burthenfome delays before he brings the cause to a conclusion. The Habeas Corpus Act and various other excellent provifions of law contribute to the fame general purpose. The speedy and cheap diftribution of juftice is alfo confulted in this kingdom by the appointment of local officers and magistrates empowered, to decide, under due refponsibility, caufes of inferior moment; and by the half-yearly circuits of the judges to determine all matters of confiderable import

ance.

For the purpose of providing able and upright expounders of the laws, and enfuring equitable, wife, and concordant decisions throughout the community, it is highly expedient that there fhould be a few stationary courts of judicature invefted with extensive jurifdiction, yet fubjected to one fupreme court of appeal. These courts are naturally fixed in the metropolis. The preffure of business of

various

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »